Public wireless networks may pose special security threats to network users and administrators. For example, public wireless networks may enable any person or guest to access these networks without performing any security check or identity authentication. Accordingly, attackers and malicious users may readily obtain access to these wireless networks and carry out attacks on corresponding computing resources. For example, public wireless networks may enable any user to readily sniff, obtain, read, or parse network communications between other users and a shared access point.
Notably, wireless networks may be public in two different senses. First, the wireless networks may simply be open and unencrypted, without requiring a user password to access these networks. Alternatively, the wireless networks may be password-protected but the establishment, organization, and/or administrator may provide free or ready access to the password. For example, a coffee shop may provide the Wi-Fi password to any guests who enter the coffee shop (e.g., optionally including non-customers). Because wireless networks may be public in multiple senses, security software products may have difficulty in distinguishing between public wireless networks and private wireless networks, as discussed further below. Nevertheless, security vendors may seek to alert users, or perform other remedial actions, when detecting that a wireless network is public. Accordingly, the instant disclosure identifies and addresses a need for additional and improved systems and methods for detecting public networks.